The fabric of dreams; dream lore and dream interpretation, ancient and modern, by Katherine ...

391 Pages·2016·28.95 MB·English

THE
FABRIC
OF DREAMS
Dream Lore and Dream Interpretation,
Ancient and Modern
BY
KATHERINE TAYLOR CRAIG
..;
AUTHOR OF STARS OF DESTINY
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
FIFTH AVENUE
681
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
589979A
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
L
R 1932
V.
Copyright, tgi$.
By E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY
All Rigkls Reserved
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
STARS OF DESTINY
The Ancient Science of
Astrology and How to
Make Use of It Today.
Fully Illustrated with
Diagrams and Tables
Net
$2.00
NEW YORK
P. DUTTON & COMPANY
68 1 FIFTH AVENUE
PREFACE
This volume is written for the perusal of the unprejudiced.
It is an appeal to those who neither affirm the infallibility of
dreams, nor yet deny their significance as symbols, also to
those persons who have given the subject no thought whatso
ever, but who are nevertheless willing to listen impartially to
the arguments of the old-fashioned dream interpreters and to
the hypotheses of modern psycho-analysts. At first glance a
vast distance seems to stretch between the desert of sterile
scientific facts and the teeming jungle of riotous dreams, yet
between these extremes winds many a temperate, pleasant path
which the normal mind may follow if it will.
The writer does not advocate any especial theory over an
other; the purpose is merely to untangle the truth, if truth
there be. At times this quest has led to the oracular springs
of old Egypt, or to the temples of Greece, or through the
sickly vaporings of medievalism and again through the
bleak materialism of modern physiology, for each cult that has
withstood the blight of time must perforce have held its
strength, and that strength must have been born of truth,
otherwise the teachings would have been forgotten. The
—
writer has merely gathered the facts the reader is left to
judge them.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
SUBSTANCE OR SHADOW
. PAGE
An Ancient Cult, a Mediaeval Jest, a Modern Science —Ancient Divina
—
tion and Modern Dream Analysis Converging Theories Old and New
—The Soul and the Scalpel of Science —Dreams that Made History
—The Purpose of Dreams—Their Therapeutic Value—Their Psychic
Significance—The Sources of Dreams 1
II
CHAPTER
WHO SHALL DECIDE WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE?
Psychologists at Loggerheads—the Ancients and a Few Moderns—The
Mohammedan Theories—Plato, Pythagoras, etc.—Charcot, Jung,
Freud, Dr. Prince and Other Ultra-Moderns —The Mono-idea —The
Occultists 16
III
CHAPTER
SLEEP, THE MYSTERY
—
Transmitted Tendencies the Cause of Dreams Inherited Memory or
Atavism—Explanation of Morbid Fears—Reincarnation versus In
— —
herited Memory Day-Dream and Reverie Nocturnal Dreams and
Day-Dreams —Socrates and Several Other Dreamers—Abstraction —
— — — —
Sir Isaac Newton Somnambulism Epilepsy Nightmare Various
Examples of these Conditions 27
CHAPTER IV
WHERE SCIENCE PAUSES
—
The Mystics, their Dreams or Visions Clairvoyance, Clairaudience and
Other Super-Terrestrial Faculties—St. Paul, St. John—Swedenborg—
Dreamers of the Desert—St. Francis, His Dreams and His Work—
The Peasant Maid of Domremy—William Blake—William Sharp . 49
vii
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER V
NEURASTHENIA VERSUS THE SIXTH SENSE
PACK
The Natural Body—The Spiritual Body—Bishop Brent—The Instinct—
—
Instance of Captain Grade and the Titanic Disaster Conscience
and the Sixth Sense—Legends and History—Universal Legends,
The Niebelungs, Tower of Babel, Atlantis—Monasticism and the
Sixth Sense—Dreams of Children, Angels and Savages —Count Tol
stoy's Dream—The Hebrides, Switzerland and the Canary Islands—
St. Paul, Caesar, Cromwell, and a Few Epileptics —Neurasthenia or
Genius 65
CHAPTER VI
"SLEEP THAT KNITS UP THE RAVEL'D SLEEVE OP CARE"
Memory During Sleep—Hypnotic Sleep—Methods of Inducing Hypnotic
— — —
Slumber The Oracles Modern Methods of Healing The Cave of
Trophonius —The Legends of Sleep ", , . 78
CHAPTER VII
DREAMS THAT HAVE COME TRUE
— —
Each Avatar Heralded by a Mother's Dream Zoroaster—Mahomet
Gautama Buddha— Christ—The Mother of Cyrus the Great— Of
Philipof Macedon—Dreams of Cambysses, of Xerxes—OfAlexander—
...
Murderers Apprehended through Dreams—Miscellaneous Dreams
that Have been Verified—The Death of President Lincoln 01
CHAPTER VIII
YOUR DREAM WILL PIND YOU OUT
— —
Wish Dreams Contrast Dreams Alas for the Dreams ofChildhood Rep
rehensible Dreams—Dreams of Revelation—Dreams that Defy Sci
ence—Xenoglossia, Memory or Inspiration —The Apostles—Anni
— —
hilation of Time and Space Relative Values Spiritual or Spiritistic
—Angel, Devil, or Naked Soul 127
CHAPTER IX
POPPIES AND MANDRAGORA
Drugs and Narcotics—Opium—Alcohol—Pulque or Mescal—Hashish-
Morphia —Lupulus or Hop—Mandrake—Dittany—Hyssop—Bella
— —
donna Stramonium The Male Fern 136
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER X
DREAM ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
PAGB
—
Divination and Dream Analysis Example of Freudian Interpretation—
Frink—Havelock Ellis—Dr. Prince—Gypsy Interpreters—Daniel's
Interpretations —Moses and Joseph—The Latent Content—Mani
fest Content—The Censor—Displacement and other Factors in
—
Dream Analysis Illustrations of Scientific Analysis 161
CHAPTER XI
SYMBOLISM IN DREAMS
— —
Symbolism of Mythology and of Mysticism Modification of Symbols
Time and Historyas Factors in Symbolism—Gypsy Symbo.lism.—.T.he
Dream Books—Symbols Whose Significance has Altered—The Dove
— — —
The Cross-— Serpent Crocodile Table of Symbols 186
CHAPTER XII
THE ANCIENT ART OF GEOMANCY
Dream Interpretation by Means of Geomancy—Definition of Geomancy
—Its History—Directions for Geomantic Interpretation —Geomantic
Tables . . 268
XIII
CHAPTER
....
A BUDGET OP DREAMS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION
—
The Si-Fati-I-Serozah The Oneirocriticon of Astrampsichus 367

THE FABRIC OF DREAMS